8-19-35-39-42-43 Could Equal $1 Million

January 28, 1990|By CHARLES H. BOGINO Staff Writer

Eleven people sitting at the bar at the Rusty Nail lounge on Jefferson Avenue shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday were waiting to see if the $1 they'd plunked down on the first state Lotto game would shortly make them millionaires.

As the public television station on the bar's TV turned from classical violin music to the Lotto drawing, a patron at the bar began drumming his fingers on the simulated wood surface in front of him.

Then it came:

8-19-35-39-42-43.

"Bingo!" shouted owner Buddy Hollowell, as others laughed.

On second check, Hollowell discovered he'd come up with three of the six numbers, winning him only a free play at next week's drawing.

"I'm excited. I'm going to play again. I'm getting out of the restaurant business. I'm going to be a millionaire," Hollowell said.

To win the jackpot, a player had to pay $1 and pick the six numbers - one through 44 - on the balls plucked from the machine.

If more than one person hits the numbers, the prize will be shared. If no one picked the winning numbers, the prize will be rolled over into a future jackpot, lottery officials say.

While the prize money depended upon the total amount wagered, lottery officials have guaranteed $1 million in winnings for this first six-number Lotto drawing. But players only had about a one in 7 million chance of hitting all the numbers.

They also might have had to look around to find a place to make their bets. Not all of the stores that have been selling lottery scratch tickets or the Pick 3 game have Lotto computers.

For those that do have a computer, business was brisk in the hours preceeding the drawing. The number of people coming in to play the game at the 7-Eleven near the corner of Aberdeen and Briarfield Roads in Newport News kept the line about six deep early in the evening.

"As the night goes on, it'll get busier and busier," said David Pardun, the store's assistant manager. Pardun said people who have favorite numbers like to wait to make sure their numbers haven't been overplayed.

At the 7-Eleven on Warwick Boulevard in Hilton Village, Manager Carolyn Yarborough said the late run on Lotto tickets was driven by betting of another kind.

"Once they break from bingo," Yarborough said, pointing toward a game hall down the street, "they'll be down here buying tickets like mad."

Beverly Conley, a customer at the store and a self-described bingo player, said she bought her Lotto ticket more than a week ago, when betting on the game began. Pulling the ticket from her purse, she pointed to the numbers. "I used my engagement date, my anniversary date, my son's age, my husband's age, my age and two numbers from my license plate."

At Aberdeen Road, Wayne Epps' system was less scientific. By checking a number on the form, the state Lotto computer can pick the numbers for its players."I just let the computer do it," he said. "I figure that's about how they get picked anyway."

Epps was equally nonchalant about the 10:58 p.m. drawing. "I figure I'll just pick up a newspaper on Monday morning and see who won," he said. "No sense worrying about it."

Conley also said she would not be waiting in front of the television when the winning combination was announced; she was not feeling well and would probably be sleeping by the time the numbers were to be picked.

For others, however, the suspense would be too great to sleep.

"I wasn't planning on watching it," said John Baker, who picked 10 groups of six numbers at a Fox Hill Road 7-Eleven. "But now I'm starting to get excited _ just like the Super Bowl _ so we probably are."

These players were just a few of those who spent more than $1 million playing the game. By late Friday afternoon, the dollar amount spent on this week's Lotto drawing topped that amount, state lottery officials said.

And while some players missed the late evening drawing, the jackpot winner will have to wait until Monday morning to claim the prize at lottery headquarters in Richmond anyway.

Bettors who have picked three or four of the six winning numbers get small prizes and will only have to drive as far as their local Lotto retailer. Players who picked four of the numbers win about $50. Three winning numbers gets the player another Lotto bet.

Five correct numbers gets the player about $1,000, depending upon how many people play the game. These prizes can be picked up at the regional lottery office on Mercury Boulevard in Hampton when it reopens Monday morning.